Quartz Movement

Time is one of those things you can't ponder too much, lest you get a headache. For all of us, it's such a certainty, but because it's so certain, it's hard to think outside of it. Usually, you don't have to think outside of it; as a matter of fact, life on Earth requires you to think completely inside of it...especially in the U.S., where productivity and scheduling and time management are so revered. And, on top of that, time spills over into the petty niceties of life, where punctuality is translated into courtesy; after all, people's time is valuable. So, Time is seen as both reliable and precious. We've obviously placed it on a pedestal.

And this is where things get tricky...at least for me. Time is one of the boundaries in life that I count on; it gives me a framework upon which to build my life. It's not too long before it's clear that time gets too much of...well, my time. I'm guilty of putting lots of things before God, but when I think about such things, it's always things that are more tangible--work, play, laziness, myself, etc. But, until now, I don't think I've ever placed Time itself into that category. However, if you want to talk about the things that confine us while we're on Earth, the things that keep us so stifled that we can't breathe, you've got to talk about Time. Each of us has made our own set of time shackles, and we spend our whole lives trying to live inside the boundaries of those shackles--crying out in frustration and pain when we try to stretch beyond them. And, those cries of pain probably should be the first indication that something's awry.

It's a tough thing to think about, because I don't know how to fix it. You can't quit scheduling times for groups to get together. You can't just ignore the framework of time, because it's such a fixture of our lives. Nonetheless, you can't be a slave to it either. And, I'm not talking about, for instance, letting obligations eat up your available time for God; I'm talking more abstract than that. It shouldn't be about having time for God or not having time for God; it should be about living and breathing God, period, and letting time work itself out.

Wow, even typing it seems weird..."letting time work itself out"--it's seems like lunacy. Time is just...time. You deal with it, you manage it, you move on. But, I just can't shake that maybe that's not it. How should it all go? I have no idea. I mean, seriously, I don't have a clue. At this point, I'm still in the time framework. My life still works that way. But, I think that I should be thinking of ways that it shouldn't.